


Even through the End

by Srlojohn



Category: RWBY, Warhammer 40.000, Warhammer 40k (Novels) - Various Authors
Genre: Friendship, Guardswoman Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc the LotD, Ruby and Jaune's buddy road trip through hell!, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:35:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28759695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Srlojohn/pseuds/Srlojohn
Summary: Imperial Guardswoman Ruby Rose never expected that she'd ever meet an astartes, especially not like this. Nor would she expected them to look so strange, flaming armor, skulls, and bones. Wait! Where they going!? Woahhhhhhhh! Wait, where was she? What did they mean she was in the warp!?Jaune and Ruby's buddy road-trip through hell. Enjoy folks.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Even through the End

**Author's Note:**

> A big thanks to the RWBY Nook and especially to 0newhowanders for this! Without them, this fic probably wouldn't exist. Enjoy!

This was it she supposed. Guardswoman Ruby Rose grabbed the next ammunition drum and attached it to the side of her Autocannon. With a yell she opened fire, the shells booming as they launched out of the barrel, ripping through the waves of chaos cultists. The mud and the muck around flew up as her shells struck the ground, or exploded mid-air into shards of metal. 

Ruby felt sorry for them as the cultists found themselves torn apart by the shrapnel. She wondered how many of them really knew what they were doing, and how many were so addled by the corruption that they were simply raging for raging’s sake. It didn’t matter, all that mattered was that she survive.

Ruby kept her finger tight on the trigger, making sure to line-up her shots carefully. She distantly noticed that she was the last one left firing, those around her had all died or run out of ammunition. 

To her great alarm, Ruby heard the dreaded click, indicating she was yet again out of ammo. She ejected the drum, and prepared to load the next one, only for her hand to grasp empty air. She was out. 

Ruby fumbled for her lasgun, when she heard a yell. Standing over her, a crude club held high and iron spikes jutting from his head like some blasphemous star, was a chaos cultist, an enraged scream on his face. 

“DIE BLASPHEMER!” the man screamed as he swung his club down. 

Ruby held her hands to cover her face as she waited for the blow. 

It never came.

Ruby heard a whoosh of wind and a splatter of blood as the corrupted man went flying away from her. Ruby moved her arms to look up at her savior.  
Above her was… an Astartes! One of the angels of the emperor! This one was different, however. It had no identifiable chapter markings, and skulls and bones adorned its armor. From them blazed bright warp fire, hinting at it’s less than mortal nature. It’s armor was pitch black, almost as if it sucked in the light around it. 

Ruby looked around, and spotted other similar Astartes materialize, simply emerging from the darkness. Flames licked around them, occasionally one of them would fire a bolter, and in the distance a scream would sound. 

One of them had a large flaming banner mounted to the back of his jump-pack, identifying him as some sort of officer. He waved with a hand, and with a loud rumble, a rhino, and honest to goodness Astartes Rhino in it’s Razorback configuration rolled out from the abyss. Flames roared from it’s wheels, and Sword-wielding skeleton Icons were proudly displayed on it’s side.

Ruby was distracted from her gawking when she felt the crackling of fire next to her ear. She turned onto her back, to see the Marine that had saved her, extending a hand to help her up. 

She took it warily, and he gently pulled her up. 

“Th-thank you…” Ruby said to the flaming man, “you saved my life.”

The Marine nodded in response to her thanks. 

“I don’t know what would have happened otherwise! Probably eaten, or maybe brained by that gy with the stick. Maybe run through by a daemon or punched by traitor or- or maybe even-” Ruby rambled, stopped by a huff of air from the astartes. 

Ruby shut up quickly as a large man looked down at her. She saw him raise his hands and she closed her eyes and prepared for a slap. However, she heard a click, prompting her to open her eyes again. 

The Astartes had taken off his helmet, revealing his face. 

She was surprised by how… whole, he looked. Considering the stylization of his and the other astartes’ armor, particularly with things like what appeared to be exposed ribs, skulls, and other bones, she really hadn’t expected that under the armor he’d look perfectly healthy. He had shaggy blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. A Blood Angel? No, they had red armor…

“Are you alright ma’am?” he asked, pulling Ruby out of her thoughts. 

She shook her head and looked up at him a slight smile on his face. 

“Oh! Um yeah, mostly! A scratch here or there. Nothing major!” Ruby stammered. Still a tad starstruck from meeting an astartes, even if she’s not exactly sure what chapter they were.

“Alright, well, I’ll need you to head over to that Rhino over there, to get you patched up. Can you do that?” The astartes pointed towards a Rhino with the medical Primus clearly emblazoned on the side.

“Oh, uh, yes sir!” Ruby said with a salute, her guard training finally kicking in. 

“Alright, and no need to call me sir. We’re not exactly… part of the chain of command.” He explained, as he reaffixed his helmet.

“Oh, um okay…. What’s your name?” Ruby asked, a bit ashamed that she hasn’t asked earlier. 

“Just call me Brother Arc.” 

“Okay! Uh- Goodbye!” 

“Farewell Sister Rose” Arc’s voice crackled over the comm in his helmet. He turned away, going to join his brothers in battle.

Wait…. How did she know her name!? She didn’t recall telling him her name… oh well, a mystery for another time she supposed. She looked around for the Rhino, spotting it on the far side of the clearing, moving with the advancing front line. 

She jogged to it, rapping her knuckles against the warm metal of the vehicle. She was surprised that the Rhino was warm to the touch, then again, the thing had flames coming out of it, so she supposed it wasn’t too much of a stretch. The Rhino stopped, and it’s side gangplank swung down. The doors squeaked opened, and a head stuck out. The man in question had long black hair with a pink strip down one piece. He saw her, and waved her inside. Ruby obliged and jogged up the gangplank. The doors slid shut behind her, and the gangplank slammed shut behind her. 

“You don’t look hurt.” The man with the black hair spoke in a calm, almost disinterested tone, looking her up and down. He had the bright white armor apothecary, and a chapter symbol featuring a large insect on a yellow background. She guessed this was one of the Mantis Warriors she’d heard was deploying nearby. 

“Oh, um, no, not really a few scrapes. Brother Arc sent me here.” She said, twisting nervously under his dry gaze. 

“I see. Sister Valkyrie, can you make sure she get’s patched up? I’ve got to keep an eye out for geneseeds.” 

“Of course Brother Ren!” a cheerful voice called, and a Sister Hospitaller with shockingly orange hair walked in from the drivers compartment. 

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

After about an hour of Sister Valkarie’s animated chattering, the back door of the Rhino opened, and they were ordered out.

The officer Ruby had seen before had them line up, and he took a walk down the line inspecting them. 

Nearby, a tech-marine was fiddling with a machine, something that Ruby assumed was a communications device. 

“Alright!” the Officer yelled to the group. “You are all to stay here and wait for extraction! We have called for aid, and a detachment from the Salamanders is a few hours away from here! You are *not* to leave this clearing, understood? Good.”

His speech finished, he and the other strange marines began to organize, preparing to move out. At the end of a line was one marine she recognized, and she tried to wave to him. A slight turn of his head showed he noticed her but said or showed no other indication of a response. The group of astartes marched into a forest, and disappeared into the darkness.

She chased after him, ignoring the protests from the other survivors the astartes had collected and followed them into the forest.  
Her foot caught a root, and she lurched forward, however, instead of hitting the ground she kept falling as the world seem to stretch and twist, disappearing into a blinding blur of colors and shapes she couldn’t begin to describe.


End file.
